The radiating pain from his shoulder pushed the blackness away and brought him swimming towards the bright lights of the infirmary. He groaned and wrapped his fingers tighter around the hand that was grasping his own.

"Sir?"

Her voice was quiet and it trembled slightly.

"I'm sorry sir, if I hadn't tripped this wouldn't have happened"

He groaned again and opened his eyes looking at Blake's white face; she looked like she hadn't slept in days. He pulled his hand away from hers.

"Go home Blake" he sighed

"Jack" she started in a whisper "Please let me explain"

"There's nothing to explain. Now go home, I'm sure your fiancé is wondering where you are. That's an order Captain" he growled, stubbornly closing his eyes again.

Dr Frasier appeared shining a pen light in his eyes, prodding his shoulder and injecting him with what he guessed were pain killers. When he opened his eyes again Blake had disappeared.

"She was here all night you know. And most of yesterday"

He could feel the pain killers kicking in and his vision was starting to fade. He looked up at Janet his eyes hazy, before allowing himself to slip once again into the comforting blackness.

******

She brought the bike to a halt on the corner of her street. She had been living on the base for the past few days while Colonel had been in the infirmary and she intended to stay there until she could be sure that Brian had lost interest and gone back to DC. But there were things she missed from her home, extra clothes, her toothbrush, make up and a photo of her mother which she had never been without.

Brian's car was still parked in the street in front of her house, sighing she settled in to wait for him to leave. She hoped it wouldn't be long, her back was still sore and the broken skin was only just beginning to heal. She resisted the urge to let the tears fall down her cheeks when she remembered the Colonel's face when he had woken up in the infirmary. At first he had been pleased to see her and had squeezed her fingers between his own, but he had quickly remembered the confrontation with Brian and had pulled his hand away ordering her to go home. She would try and explain everything to him when she got back to the base, with him confined to bed in the infirmary she had a better chance of making him listen. She couldn't let him think that she had been leading him on. Even if he didn't want her, he had to know that she hadn't been manipulating him.

After only half an hour waiting on the corner of the street she saw Brian leave the house, his car speeding off in the other direction. She acted quickly, rolling the bike down the street and quickly mounting the steps up to the porch. She slid quietly into the house, wrinkling her nose at the smell of stale whisky that filled the hair. She sighed at the mess that Brian had created in only three days. Her beautiful home that she and the Colonel, Daniel and Teal'c had worked so hard to organize now looked like a pig sty. She jumped up the stairs two at a time striding towards her bedroom. She began gathering clothes and toiletries as quickly as possible stuffing them into the same duffle bag she had used before.

She was in the bathroom when the bedroom door swung open crashing into the wall behind it. She froze not daring to move. Brian's large frame appeared in the bathroom doorway behind her, his face smiling at her in the mirror.

"I knew you'd come back eventually" he snarled wrapping his arm firmly around her throat.

His hand covered her mouth while the other pulled her arm behind her back twisting it brutally. She felt the bone snap and screamed against his filthy hand.

"Where've you been Mil? I've been waiting three days for you to come back. You're father's trying to sort me out a transfer to the mountain so that we can be together. But you shouldn't have left here without letting me know where you were going"

He wrenched her body round, ploughing his fist into her face knocking her to the floor. She was terrified; she had never seen him like this before. Drunk yes. But never out of control. The smell of whisky was strong but she didn't think it was fresh. In this state he could easy kill her. He had always had a fiery temper but he was normally too drunk to act on it properly. Blood streamed from her nose and she tried to curl her body to protect herself as he swung his heavy, booted foot into her ribs. He groaned as she curled into the fetal position, and reaching into his pocket he brought out the same pair of hand-cuffs he had used before. He stuffed a dirty rag into her mouth and pulled her arms behind her back. She screamed as the bone in her broken arm rubbed against nerves sending icicles of pain shooting through her whole body. He stood and kicked her ribs again, smiling in a manically contented way.

"That's better" he muttered before booting her a few more times.

The last swing fell away from target and connected with her upper thigh, the bone breaking with a sickening crunch. He lifted her limp body and threw her onto the bed, pulling his knife from his pocket. Her conscious swam and the room had begun to get fuzzy around the edges, but the sight of the knife glistening in the afternoon sun brought her attention fully back. He stepped back, as if thinking, knocking the lamp of the night table. It crashed to the floor breaking into a million parts.

******

When Jack again regained consciousness he felt a lot better, the pain in his shoulder had receded to a dull ache. He rubbed his uninjured hand over his face. His head still swum with the dream images that he been buzzing around his head. But he didn't think it was a dream, had he really seen those marks on her back when she had tripped on P3X546? His mind slowly began to piece the puzzle together and the face of his ex wife Sara's younger sister popped into his head. The poor girl had got involved with a particularly nasty guy when Sara and he had first started dating. Sara and he had convinced her to go to the police and the guy had been put away, but she had been jumpy for ages after, flinching and starting at shadows.

"Crap!" He felt like a light had switched on in his head.

He sat up quickly, ignoring the pain in his shoulder and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Blake reacted in the same way as Sara's sister had, Flinching when there was no need. He now remembered, clear as day, the long straight bruises that marked her back and the wince that he had seen on her face as she lifted her pack. And he had sent her home to that bastard. He slid off the bed, searching for his clothes.

"Colonel! Get back into bed"

"Sorry Doc, but I gotta go"

Janet took in his sense of urgency, it was unusual to see the Colonel so wound up. His face had turned white and he was searching wildly for his clothes. She stepped over and pushed him lightly, forcing him to sit back down on the bed. She pulled the dressing away to examine the wound on his shoulder, before redressing it and after he was dressed she strapped his arm to his chest to prevent movement. She handed him a bottle of pain killers and gave him instructions on when to take them while he fidgeted on the bed.

"Ok Colonel, but take it easy for a few days."

He was out the door before she could finish, and she doubted that he would take it easy even for a few minutes let alone a few days.

Driving was difficult with his arm strapped to his chest, but his urgency over rode his clumsiness. How could he have been so blind? The whiteness of her face when she had seen Brian, the way she trembled, the death grip the bastard had had on her arm. He had checked her quarters on the base before leaving and although she wasn't there it looked like she had been living there for at least the last few days. The guards on the gate informed that Captain Blake had signed out over two hours ago. He prayed, hoping that nothing had happened to her.

He made it to her house in record time; her bike was parked on the street outside the house and the same car that had been there the night of the barbecue. He hopped out of the truck and moved silently towards the house. The front door was ajar, swinging open when he pushed it. He paused for a moment pulling out his cell phone and dialing 911, hoping the police didn't arrive too soon, he wanted to deal with this himself. The entrance stank of stale whisky and cigarette smoke and everything was in disarray.

There was a crash from upstairs and he moved quickly and silently towards the noise. He reached her bedroom and looked through the door, unprepared for what he would see. She was lying on the bed with blood streaming from her nose and her right leg twisted at a strange angle. Brian was standing over with a knife in his hand with his back to the door; it looked like the bastard was thinking. He slipped silently into the room until he was stood just two feet behind him. He planted his feet firmly on the floor, preparing himself.

"Hey!"

Brian turned at the noise and Jack was ready for him, ploughing his fist into the guy's smug face with all the strength he could muster. The guy staggered backwards a satisfyingly shocked look on his face.

"Get out of here old man" he snarled advancing forward.

Even with his left arm strapped to his chest Jack was still quick and knocked Brian backwards again with another swift punch to the face. Blood had started to trickle from his nose and a look of fear had entered his eyes.

"How does it feel to be on the receiving end for a change?" Jack asked him

Brian suddenly remembered the knife in his hand and advance again swinging it. Jack blocked the blow and easily disarmed the younger man turning the knife towards him.

The sound of distant sirens filled the air and Jack felt a stab of disappointment, realizing that they would arrive before he had chance to kill the bastard. He lunged forwards quickly twisting and pulling Brian's arm behind him, pressing the knife against his throat.

"If I had more time I'd kill you for what you've done to her" he growled in his ear, before bringing the butt of the knife swiftly down between Brian's shoulders and letting him slump to the floor, unconscious, booting him in the ribs more for his own pleasure than because he thought the guy might get up. He searched his pockets quickly, looking for the keys to the hand cuffs and moved slowly towards the bed.

He sat down next to her, his heart breaking at the quiet whimper that escaped her lips as she tried to move away from him. He reached out to touch her arm but she flinched and wriggled to the other side of the large bed. Her face was barely recognizable through the blood that was pouring from her nose, she had her eyes closed and hadn't seen him enter the room.

"Shhh Blake I'm here"

"Sir?" she mumbled her voice thick as her consciousness slipped.

He reached over to remove the handcuffs and she didn't flinch, but he wasn't sure if that was because she realized that it was him or because she had lost consciousness.

"You're safe now" he whispered "No one will ever hurt you again"